1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a process and a device for making snow durable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Critical points on ski runs, such as e.g. overloaded and narrow downhill areas, south-slope areas, and areas with valley slopes, are generally covered with artificial snow, in order to be able to ensure a longer skiing season. One problem in this is an extremely high consumption of water. Generally, the water required for producing artificial snow is stored in water reservoirs and pumped to the individual snow guns with the aid of pumps. When artificial snow generated in this way melts, large quantities of water are formed, which flow down the mountainsides, drain away, and are thus lost. Another problem consists of the fact that when covered with artificial snow, the environment is damaged significantly. This is due especially to the fact that artificial snow flows more slowly into the ground and is therefore pushed to the side when traveled on, so that the ground is thus uncovered faster and is therefore damaged. When such partly released ground regions are uncovered, the danger also exits that skiers are injured seriously while skiing.
A process for making snow durable is known from printed document U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,507, in which a cooling-mat device is placed directly on a ski slope, not further defined, and then covered with sand or something similar. After that, a layer of artificial show or natural snow is applied to the cooling-mat device. This layer is cooled as needed. There is a problem in this in that the cooling-mat device can be damaged by the ground, especially by traffic, and in addition the vegetation on the ground can be permanently disturbed by the cooled cooling-mat device and the sand layer. Application of the sand layer at the start of the winter season and its removal after the winter season should be so problematical that cooling of ski slopes cannot be realized in the manner described.
This task is solved by a process for making snow durable on certain regions of natural ground, by an applied cooling-mat device through which a coolant is fed through a coolant-supply line and removed through a coolant-return line, the cooling-mat device being placed on a snow layer already existing on the natural ground that has previously been leveled with a roller or something similar, and another snow layer being applied to the cooling-mat device, and the snow layers being cooled by the cooling-mat device.
This task is solved by a process with the characteristics of patent claim 1 and a device with the characteristics of patent claim 20.
The essential advantage of the present invention is in the fact that by simply placing cooling mats in desired areas a ski run can be achieved that is cooled for artificial or natural snow to the extent that an undesired rapid melting of the natural or artificial snow can be avoided. Since natural or artificial snow can be prevented from rapid thawing in these critical points in a relatively simple way, a significantly longer ski season can be assured. Cross-country and downhill courses especially can be made durable in the manner according to the invention to withstand ski races and similar things, so that such competitions can be held relatively independently of weather conditions. In addition, it is also guaranteed that all skiers encounter the same conditions during such a competition, as far as possible.
However, the essential advantage of the present invention consists of the fact that the enormous water consumption associated with the traditional snow gun can be reduced by making the snow durable. Since the mats used in connection with the present invention have lines with a very small diameter, there is only a relatively small need for coolant.
An especially preferred embodiment of the invention involves using Glysantin or a similar environmentally friendly coolant, advantageously containing a colorant that indicates the place of a failure in case of a line break. It is then particularly easy to gain access to the failure site for repair, and the line can be clamped off from the system by simple heating and melting, in which case the function of the entire system is essentially maintained.
In an especially preferred embodiment, the mat device has input funnels, into which a drilling device can be introduced from the side away from the ground in an especially simple manner and pushed into the ground, so that tilting rods can be inserted later and attached to the ground.
Additional advantages and embodiments of the invention can be seen from the subclaims.